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Why Does Apple's Manufacturing Bother Us So Much?

“Ethical iPhone” protests raged through Grand Central Terminal and elsewhere yesterday, as fed-up Apple fans proved that they were willing to do anything to protest conditions in Apple’s Chinese manufacturing facility short of not going to Apple stores.

As Tim Worstall has pointed out, there’s nothing particularly noteworthy about Foxconn’s manufacturing in China, or Apple’s relationship with it. Oppressive conditions are par-for-the course over there, and Foxconn actually has a slightly lower suicide rate than China writ-large. and any electronics company worth their salt does their manufacturing in similar conditions: it’s the game they all play, and it’s the game we demand when we ask for cheap electronics.

And yet, there were no Microsoft protests yesterday, no Samsung protests or Nokia protests. Apple continues to receive the brunt of public fury over Chinese manufacturing conditions. Why?

Apple was supposed to be our friend. They were the techno-hippies, the plucky little company getting by on style and an intuitive understanding of the way we used their electronics. Apple got us. We trusted Apple. When big, bad Microsoft was on trial for antitrust, Apple was trying to make computers fun.

Everyone likes to buy things — if America has proved anything over a couple of centuries, it’s that. But for a certain set, all purchases from larger corporations come with a certain measure of guilt that must be offset by perceived ethical practices, or more likely, clever design. Whole Foods is one champion of that game, Apple is another. But the perceived ethics are just a case of reverse engineering on the part of the consumer: Apple seems responsible because we like them, and we like responsible things.

It should be pretty obvious that Apple is not a corporation for hippies. They’ve built their entire hardware business off the premise of whipping us into a frenzy every two years over the latest incremental iteration of one of their products, prodding us into buying some shiny new piece of hardware and throwing our old model out. If that doesn’t work, planned obsolescence kicks in and the device craps out shortly after the upgrade opportunity anyway. The cost to repair your PowerBook at the genius bar ends up just $2-300 less than getting a new one, and… Apple knows the game.

Apple isn’t going to move their manufacturing out of oppressive conditions. The cost of raising their manufacturing expenses to please would dwarf the benefits they’d get by pleasing those who wished that their products were nicer, and as people like the FBI have recently made clear, Steve Jobs and the company he built were nothing if not Machiavellian.

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The difference between Apple and other hardware manufacturers is that the others never pretended to be different. Toshiba, Samsung, and companies such as Blackberry aimed their products at enterprise level companies which are synonymous with profit margins, whereas Apple tried to be the feel good company that could do no wrong and seemed as if profits were secondary to the user experience. Had we known how poor the working conditions were for the employees maybe we wouldn’t think of Apple as such an green, happy company.

Knowing how an Iphone is made is much like seeing how sausage is made; we like the end product but don’t want to see what goes into it.

So are you angry with Apple for having an effective advertising strategy as opposed to Toshiba, Samsung, et al? Every company in the world, is in the end, is trying to make a profit. How they come across with that message is up to the company, Apple just did it better and produced better products.

Where did you imagine Iphones and other Apple products were coming from, ideal high paying factories where workers have 15 minute recess and nap break? Come on.

The “suicide cluster” at Foxconn was actually 17 suicides out of 1.2 million workers over 5 years, 10-20x lower than China’s average suicide rate, 15x lower than the USA rate and 25x lower than the rate amongst MIT undergrads.

The Foxconn factory where 150 workers threatened to jump from the roof recently was making xbox 360s for Microsoft, not Apple.

The industrial accident death rate at Foxconn is 10x lower than the industrial accident death rate in the USA. Although every death is a trajedy, we need to get some context and perspective here.

Also the average pay rate for production workers of $6,000 p.a. at Foxconn is significantly higher than the average wage in China ($4,000).

Apple is the only tech company to be a member of the Fair Labor Association and allows independent inspectors into any supplier.

Apple is also one of only a few tech companies to do rigorous audits of workplace conditions at suppliers (229 last year) and publish the results publicly.

These facts, and other similar ones, are readily available on the Web for anyone to read. It’s easy for anyone to find this information simply by using Google… if these bloggers and their rabid supporters really wanted to learn the truth (which apparently they do not).

The facts make a mockery of the so-called “journalists” and the gullible Apple-haters that read and believe the latest false accusations against Apple.

This is not the first time, and it probably won’t be the last, that these shills and their blind followers go on the warpath against Apple.

Not that any of these false accusations have ever really hurt Apple in the long run. Apple continues to grow both financially and in developing innovative products for us to enjoy using.

It seems that the more that these “Apple-haters” rail against the company that they hate/fear so much, the more free publicity Apple gets (the only bad PR, is no PR) which ultimately increases public awareness of Apple’s products and services. ;-)

I think those people who are protesting should get their guilt out of their systems and at least make an attempt at bring attention to poor working conditions. As an Apple shareholder, I think that Apple could set some precedent or offer some lip service to stopping oppressive working conditions. It’ll be all forgotten in the next release of the iPhone, iPad or whatever.

Apple has to be the target because they have the most money of any company in the world and probably will be able to grab the most attention. This could turn out as a good thing for Apple if they make the right moves. Even the iDevice-buying Chinese citizens will be pleased. I don’t think much will change, but it will make some people feel better knowing they’ve done their part in helping the working class suffer a little less. I don’t even think this protest is a conspiracy brought about by Wall Street to knock Apple’s share price down, either. I’m sure it’s just a bunch of do-gooders thinking they’re helping to improve the world and hopefully things will get better.

“Apple has to be the target because they have the most money of any company in the world”

Are you serious???

Because a company is successful, they should be attacked, while less successful companies should be ignored?

If that is truly the case, then using your logic, Google should be protested against since Android smartphones manufactured in China are in much greater numbers than iPhones.

And you should also protest against Nokia and Samsung, since they both manufacture more mobile phones in China than Apple does.

And you should also protest against Microsoft, because they produce more game consoles in China than anyone else, and also because Windows PCs (about 90% of all desktop and notebook PCs) are also made in China.

Oh, and also protest against HP and Dell, because they manufacturer a lot more PCs in China than Apple does.

This can go on, and on, but you get the picture.

Just realize that you have singled out Apple not for any logical reason, but apparently only based on your own personal bias against that company

I am tired of the two wrongs make a right falicy that many like you use. does showing that others are doing bad things make what apple is doing right?

just like in the past with Microsoft being the largest OS on desktops, they were a target of hackers and then in turn a target of haters. From that, microsoft created a security policy that is one of the best out there and is copied by many to secure their OS’s and applications.

now this is happening to Apple. They are very popular, and they are a target because of it. We shouldnt give the non-apple companies a free ride. but apple gets the most press, etc. they are no less wrong than the rest. and until the pro-apple folks realize that, the sooner you can have products that arent made in poor working conditions.

Some people just have it in for Apple, the nonconforming upstart that had no right to become successful. They take every opportunity to point out deviations from Apple’s perfection in the hopes of dragging it down by turning its customers against it This is really nothing new.

The haters readily consume all sorts of products manufactured under less than ideal conditions, but only raise a fuss when Apple does it. They are petty hypocrites.

I don’t mean to belittle the problems of third world workers. They are real. But they are not Apple’s fault, nor Apple’s responsibility to fix. Apple is already doing more to influence positive change than most other US companies. Boycotting Apple alone will do nothing to improve the lives of Foxconn workers. If a boycott were to actually impact Apple sales, many Foxconn workers would be laid off. That’s about it.

Those facts, and other similar ones, are readily available on the Web for anyone to read. It’s easy for anyone to find this information simply by using Google… if these bloggers and their rabid supporters really wanted to learn the truth (which apparently they do not).

The facts make a mockery of the so-called “journalists” and the gullible Apple-haters that read and believe the latest false accusations against Apple.

This is not the first time, and it probably won’t be the last, that these shills and their blind followers go on the warpath against Apple.

Not that any of these false accusations have ever really hurt Apple in the long run. Apple continues to grow both financially and in developing innovative products for us to enjoy using.

It seems that the more that these “Apple-haters” rail against the company that they hate/fear so much, the more free publicity Apple gets (the only bad PR, is no PR) which ultimately increases public awareness of Apple’s products and services. ;-)

In 100 years time, when Chinese school students learn about the way their forefathers were treated so that foreigners could have the best of everything, they will look back at the consumers of the now-defunct West and ask “Didn’t they even care?” with the same disgust that today’s schoolkids look back at slavery.

Actually, melciz, apple may be part of the Fair Labour Association, but do you have any idea how that works? Clearly not… On an inspection, the conditions are changed, and the oldest workers are inspected. Apple hides their faults. To be brutally honest, more than 20% of the workers there are under 15